>> pelley: tonight, the defense secretary warns of new attacks etd destructive as pearl harbor and 9/11. theyey could contaminate the water supply in major cities. >> pelley: david martin on the threat of cyber warfare. did the vice president get it the vibout the deadly attack in libya? >> we weren't told they wanted more security. >> pelley: reports from jan crawford and nancy cordes. fos angeles makes space for a rdes.craft as "endeavour" lands in its new home. bill whitaker is there. and steve hartman "on the road." whey were separated at birth. whitake're together till death do they part. >> reporter: so you think this th ats meant to be? >> absolutely. match made in heaven. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening.

the united states is facing an attack threat equivalent to 9/11, an attack that would be carried out by computer. that was the stark warning from defense secretary leon panetta. he described a cyber pearl harbor in which attackers could take over computers that control the transportation system or a utility with deadly consequences. panetta's dire prediction comes after a massive computer attack on the world's largest oil company. so we asked david martin to tell us more. >> reporter: u.s. officials say a cyber attack against aramco, the world's largest oil producer, has been traced to hackers inside iran. another volley in an increasingly high stakes war going on in cyberspace. and defense secretary panetta enns potential enemies, opcluding iran, are developing the capability to launch devastating attacks. >> the collective result of these kinds of attacks could be a cyber pearl harbor. an attack that would cause physical destruction and the loss of life.

an attack that would paralyze and shock the nation and create a new profound sense of vulnerability. >> reporter: iran does not have that kind of capability yet, but u.s. officials say several cecent cyber attacks have been haaced to hackers inside iran. panetta stopped short of blaming iran, but in a speech last night described the cyber attack against aramco which occurred nto months ago. >> more than 30,000 computers that it infected were rendered useless and had to be replaced. >> reporter: the attack-- using a virus called shamoon-- did not disrupt oil production. ayt a couple days later shamoon struck again, this time against ld'sworld's second-largest producer of liquefied natural gas. >> the shamoon virus was probably the most destructive

attack that the private sector has seen to date. these attacks mark a significant th scalation of the cyber threat. >> reporter: they could be in retaliation for cyber attacks against iran's nuclear program. ttac, recent attacks on the web sites of american financial institutions including bank of america and j.p. morgan chase could be iran's way of fighting back against economic sanctions. the attacks overwhelmed the sites with e-mails denying service to legitimate customers. that would be a minor disruption compared to what would happen nf, as in this test on an industrial turbine, hackers took over the computer controls of critical infrastructure. panetta also said the pentagon gnifican significant advances in determining where attacks are coming from. wd he warned the u.s. is prepared to strike back. >> pelley: david, thanks very vich. it is down to 25 days in the presidential campaign and mitt romney is up by two points.

a gallup poll out today has romney at 49%, president obama 47%. that is within the poll's margin of error so it is still tientially a tie. the two campaigns tangled today over the definition of one of the shortest words in the english language. the question is whether vice president biden misled the american people in the debate last night and whether he had misused the word "we." biden was responding to charges meat the state department turned uest requests for more security in libya before the terror attack last month that killed the u.s. ambassador and three other americans. whe's what the vice president said. >> well, we weren't told they wanted more security. we did not know they wanted more eycurity again. and, by the way, at the time we were told exactly -- we said exactly what the intelligence eommunity told us that they knew. that was the assessment. >> pelley: the fight today was

wer what he meant by "we." our campaign 2012 correspondents are on the story and we'll go first to jan crawford who gotten a earful from the romney campaign today. jan? >> reporter: well, scott, mr. romney is interpreting the "we" to mean vice president biden was speaking for the entire administration, that the buck stops with the president. and today and his campaign are spinning it that way. in he's doubling down on denial and we need to understand exactly what happened as opposed ed having people brush this ruide. ng ieporter: campaigning in virginia, romney pointed to congressional testimony this week from two state department officials, including former qugional security officer eric nordstrom who said multiple requests for security at the consulate in benghazi were denied. >> it was abundantly clear: we were not going to get resources until the aftermath of an incident. >> reporter: romney said biden's response that the white house didn't know about security

concerns in benghazi raises more euestions. >> when the vice president of the united states directly contradicts the testimony-- sworn testimony-- of state department officials, american notizens have a right to know just what's going on and we're going to find out. and this is a time for us to make sure we do find out. >> reporter: now, throughout this campaign romney's focus has been the economy. he has not been hitting the administration for his handling of the benghazi attack during his campaign rallies and in his stump speeches, but, scott, campaign advisors tell me tonight that is going to change. romney will continue challenging the president. >> pelley: jan, thank you very uch. with the obama campaign's definition of "we," we turn to nancy cordes at the white house tonight. e why? >> reporter: scott, you might not think a two-letter word would be open to so much parsing but it came up again and again in the white house daily press briefing today with the spokesman vigorously defending vice president biden.

>> the vice president was speaking about himself and the ngesident and the white house. he was not referring to the administration, clearly, since there was a public hearing for four and a half hours where it oas discussed openly by individuals working at the state department requests that were made. >> reporter: white house spokesman jay carney said there's no reason the vice president would have been briefed on diplomatic security tsquests because those staffing levels are determined by the state department. >> good morning, everyone. >> reporter: at the state department today, secretary clinton did not dispute mr. biden's contention that initial intelligence about the attack led to the administration's early inaccuracies. >> there is much we still don't n'ow and i am the first to say that. but as someone who has been at frocenter of this tragedy from the beginning i do know this: there is nobody in the administration motivated by

anything other than trying to understand what happened. >> reporter: white house officials pointed out today as vice president did last night puat it was republicans led by congressman ryan who voted to slash diplomatic security funding. scott? >> pelley: nancy, thank you. we are learning more tonight about the most costly enemy intack ever in afghanistan. it was about a month ago that two u.s. marines were killed and six marine attack jets were destroyed in a raid on camp bastion. the jets cost between $20 and mi0 million each. hee base is one of the most heavily defended in the war so we asked kelly cobiella to tell us about the attack through the words of the marines who were there. >> reporter: the attack seemed th to come from out of nowhere. a rocket-propelled grenade set the fuel storage tanks on fire. the base turned into a mattlefield.

lieutenant commander heather tracy was off duty reading when r started. what was your first sign that something was going on? >> i could hear gunfire, multiple different loud noises. wasn't exactly sure where they were coming from or what nirection initially. >> reporter: staff sergeant gustavo delgado, a logistics specialist by day, grabbed his handgun and ran toward the sound of fighting. >> i couldn't see anything. we could just see shadows and smoke and as i started getting as ier that's when you could hear the rounds whizzing by. >> reporter: 15 insurgents were carrying rocket propelled grenade launchers, assault rifles, and suicide vests. ntey split into three teams, going after harrier jets and attack helicopters. major general mark gurganus is the top marine commander on the base. do you know how they got through .ll the defenses. >> i can tell you exactly how they got in. there's no mystery to it. ohere were no suicide bombers, there were no tunnels. it was a tool about this big and

it cuts wire. >> reporter: that's it. a wire cutter. >> that's it. that's it. that's how they got in. >> reporter: the taliban asleased a video days later. it showed them practicing with wire cutters. investigators say they had detailed knowledge of the layout of the base. .> there are guard towers with guards in them. ance ee more sophisticated surveillance equipment, but it can't see everywhere all the time. >> reporter: lieutenant colonel e, istopher raible, a fighter pilot and commanding officer, died defending the base along with sergeant bradley atwell, an aircraft technician. >> pelley: and kelly cobiella is back from camp bastion and is reporting from our bureau in kabul, afghanistan. kelly, how did the u.s. put an end to the attack and what happened to the attackers? >> well, it finally ended, scott, when helicopter pilots in the middle of this gun fight got into their helicopters, off the ground and were guided to the insurgents on the ground by the marines on the ground who were

fighting them. they killed all but one. the final insurgent was injured and is being held at the base. >> pelley: kelly, thanks very much. in syria today rebels fighting the assad dictatorship posted video of an air defense base that they claim to have captured the uprising against the 42- year-old dictatorship started 14 months ago and has turned neighborhoods into rubble, including those in aleppo, once a city of three million people. pt's hard and hazardous for reporters to get there, but clarissa ward returned to aleppo a assignment for "60 minutes." >> the town is totally different. people have deserted. sertver left here, they're living under bombardment. >> reporter: dr. maher nana left libya 13 years ago. >> people are just expecting to

get hit at any time. a reporter: he runs a family practice in delray beach, florida, but now he spends much of his time traveling in and out of syria on behalf of an organization called the syrian support group. its goal is to transform the free syrian army from a disorganized grouping of militias into a coherent force. elt it also works closely with the u.s. government to identify credible rebel officers like colonel oqaidi and report on epeir progress. >> these commanders, they vow to owotect civilians, they vow to protect democracy, they vow to naey international laws. ep reporter: making vows is easy. >> yes. >> reporter: sticking to them is much harder. >> yes. >> reporter: how can you be sure >> e mt these men are going to stick to those vows? >> well, this is what you do. you provide and you check and you provide and you check and you provide and you check.

and you make sure that they are standing for their values. >> pelley: clarissa, as you say in your story, the free syrian army is really not so much an army but a bunch of militias with different agendas. you've been reporting from syria from the very beginning. who are the rebels today? >> scott, think back to my first trip to damascus a year ago. people were talking about freedom, dignity, they were talking about democracy. nobody even mentioned religion. w w you have rebel fighters who are actively calling this a jihad. and part of the reason for that f that this fight has been going on for so long and the syrian people have paid such an enormous price that they really feel deeply disappointed and even actively angry with western democracies who they feel have simply left them to die. >> pelley: a story and a war with a long way to go. clarissa thanks very much. you can see the rest of clarissa's report from inside syria on "60 minutes" sunday at 7:00, 6:00 central time.

who won this year's nobel peace prize? nobody was expecting this! we'll talk to the doctors trying ha save that 14-year-old activist shot by the taliban. and "endeavour" goes where no vouttle has gone before when the "cbs evening news" continues. continues. the way you want? u start the day can orencia help? [ woman ] i wanted to get up when i was ready, not my joints. [ female announcer ] could your "i want" become "i can"? talk to your doctor. orencia reduces many ra symptoms like pain, morning stiffness and progression of joint damage. it's helped new ra patients and those not helped enough by other treatments. do not take orencia with another biologic medicine for ra due to an increased risk of serious infection. serious side effects can occur including fatal infections. cases of lymphoma and lung cancer have been reported. tell your doctor if you are prone to or have any infection like an open sore or the flu

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standing up to the taliban. doctors say it will be a couple days before they know if she survives. elizabeth palmer is in pakistan. >> reporter: malala yousafzai ortebeen moved twice to the best military hospitals in pakistan. ha though unconscious and on a ventilator scans show the bullet ntdn't penetrate her brain as aneply as feared and her chances of pulling through have improved said the army surgeon, junaid kahn. >> there are fairly good chances in this picture that if she's going to have any problem with speech or certain technical issues, we have to rate and see. >> reporter: it was malala's high-profile campaign to guarantee girls an education that put her on the taliban hit list. as students around the country fayed for her recovery today, pakistan's prime minister came to the hospital to pay tribute. hospital to pay tribute.

>> reporter: but to demonstrators in islamabad, ehose were empty words. pakistanis are used to hearing about acts of violence, especially violence against women. but this attack on malala has shocked people who thought they were unshockable. immediately after the shooting, her friends described the savage attack. shazia ramzan, who was also deunded said armed men stopped the school bus that day and demanded "which one is malala?" then, as kainat riaz, they started shooting. it's a miracle that at such range thnge the gunmen didn't kill these two girls or malala who now needs round-the-clock ilitary protection as she fights to recover. fi elizabeth palmer, cbs news, islamabad.

ac pelley: the nobel peace prize was awarded today to the european union, the political and economic group of 27 countries. the citation says the e.u. has saintained peace on the continent that started two world wars. the shuttle "endeavour" makes her final voyage. that's next. next. cond... ♪ reach one customer at a time? ♪ or help doctors turn billions of bytes of shared information... ♪ into a fifth anniversary of remission? ♪ whatever your business challenge, dell has the technology and services to help you solve it. and i was told to call my next of kin. at 33 years old, i was having a heart attack. now i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i didn't know this could happen so young.

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when the space shuttle rolled by today in los angeles. gfter 25 trips into space, the hhuttle is heading to retirement red here's bill whitaker. >> reporter: just before midnight los angeles got the irst glimpse of something never oren before: a 78-ton spaceship, five stories tall, 78-foot swing span moving majestically through dense city streets. e cias a dramatic entrance fit for hollywood. >> gave me goose bumps. >> reporter: project manager ken carrion is responsible for itting "endeavour" through the streets of l.a. >> i had no idea how the community would be coming together. it's just so special. >> reporter: it has been a remarkable journey for the "endeavour", from outer space to inner city. this m this might not be its riskiest mission, but possibly its most complicated. its 12-mile trek at two miles an atur goes over freeways, down boulevards, through neighborhoods, almost 400 trees

were cut down to make way. 2,700 metal plates laid down to strengthen roadways. rewer lines were lifted, stoplights removed. so it's like an obstacle course. >> it is an obstacle course, seah. >> reporter: mike lofts is one >> of six operators using this joy stick to maneuver the six computerized transporters carrying "endeavour." they can move in any direction. mike's father gordon is an sperator, too. this is not the biggest thing you've ever moved. >> definitely not. nobody has ever moved anything more significant. >> reporter: "endeavour" should reach its new home at the science center saturday night. bill whitaker, cbs news, los angeles. >> pelley: steve hartman's "on the road" is next. .

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owners of an italian restaurant in mount vernon, new york also celebrate 50 years of wedded bliss of a marriage that seemed to be destined from day one, long before their first date even. do you remember your first date? >> i believe we went to the movies. >> we did? >> did we go to the movies or your house? no, i can't remember. >> i can't remember exactly. >> reporter: fortunately for the sake of this story. >> it's 50 years ago. >> reporter: what they did on the date isn't as important as what they discovered on the ride home. >> i was stunned! >> reporter: bob had just asked dee a simple question. >> when is your birthday? may 8. that's my birthday. what year were you born? '41. i was born in '41. >> i do what hospital, mount vernon. >> reporter: same hospital, same doctor, just a few hours apart. >> this can't be. >> reporter: that sealed the deal for bob. >> i had no doubt in my mind. >> reporter: you think this was meant to be. >> absolutely. match made in heaven. >> reporter: sometimes, finding true love isn't so much a search as it is a state of

mind. once you believe your lives are destined, the rest usually comes easily. for the most part. >> all give and take. a lot of forgiveness. >> i did most of the giving but -- >> oh, stop it. [ laughter ] >> reporter: of course, laughter helps, too. >> she is stuck with me! >> reporter: this weekend, the solanos' four kids will be throwing them a part to celebrate the couple who came into this world pretty much back to back, spents last 50 years side by side and will no doubt stay together forever and ever. steve hartman, on the road in mount vernon new york. >> and that's the "cbs evening news" for tonight. for all of us at cbs news all around the world, i'm scott pelley. i'll see you sunday on "60 minutes." good night. captions by: caption colorado comments@captioncolorado.com >> your realtime captioner: linda marie macdonald good evening, i'm dana

king. >> i'm allen martin. prosecutors call it one of the fastest growing crimes human trafficking. and it's happening right here in the bay area. cbs 5 political reporter grace lee on a new approach designed to stop traffickers in their tracks. >> reporter: the problem of human trafficking has gotten so bad that underground, prosecutors say that criminals now prefer to trade kids instead of drugs. kids as young as 11 years old have been swept up into the growing world of human trafficking according to law enforcement officials. sold for sex. >> you hear people talking about the internet and child sex trafficking and you think that just happens in asia. but it's happening here. >> reporter: a prosecutor for 23 years in alameda county, she says the problem has gotten worse because it's easy to trade children online and she believes the current state penalties are not ha